This summer Chris Martin (USA, 1954), Jim Shaw (USA, 1952) and Klaas Kloosterboer (NL, 1959) have transformed the Submarine Wharf into a gigantic art studio. These artists think on a monumental scale and have filled the 5000m2 Submarine Wharf with paintings, installations and objects. The exhibition ‘XXXL Painting’ brings together new and existing works. In the months leading up to the opening, the artists have been busy at work in the building, creating the exhibition on site. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen wishes to demonstrate the resilience and energy of the art of painting with a true ‘battle of the Titans’ between the three artists.

Chris Martin: the savage painter
Chris Martin (Washington D.C. 1954) lives and works in New York. He is fascinated by the relationship between the insignificant and the grandiose, between man and the universe. Martin makes paintings that are monumental when viewed from a distance but upon closer inspection contain all sorts of unexpected details. Will these paintings, which contain such unexpected materials as glitter and toasted sandwiches, stand the test of time? The artist seems unconcerned by this question. Martin presents his work in the enormous front hall of the Submarine Wharf, where he has created a salon display with seventeen existing paintings and three pieces painted in situ, two of which measure 13 × 10 metres. His painting High Noon Manikarnika Ghat (Dedicated to Frank Moore) from 2002 graces the exterior wall of the Submarine Wharf. This is the first time that Chris Martin’s paintings have been exhibited in the Netherlands.